1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to massaging units having soft pliable gel coverings to enhance the effectiveness thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present invention relates handheld and other types of massagers. Such massagers are often battery operated, but may also include adapters to be plugged into an AC outlet. Massagers may be used on a variety of areas on the body.
Handheld massagers are compact so that they may be held in the hand while being used on another part of the body. These massagers usually have a mechanism for creating vibratory motions in a head portion that is used to contact an area of the body. The massager works by transmitting vibrations from the head of the massager to the body to soothe the muscles underneath the skin and promote circulation. Typically the massager heads have hard surfaces made of a material such as rigid rubber or plastic for contacting the body. Since the head portion of the massager is typically made of a rigid material, it is not able to fully conform to the contours of the body part that it engages. This may reduce its effectiveness in transmitting the vibrations to the underlying muscle tissue. In addition, the vibrations that are transmitted to the body may be too focused on a particular area and not provide a significant amount of area to cover the body part that is intended to be massaged. Other types of massagers are also characterized by rigid surfaces for contacting the person. Some, however, have included gel packs. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,593,212 and 5,902,256 disclose massagers including gel-filled portions.
There is a need for massagers having flexible heads that are able to conform to the shape of the body to better transmit the vibrations from the motor in the massager. In addition, there is a need for massagers that provide soothing and circulation enhancing vibrations to the body, while at the same time not creating a situation where the vibrations may be too focused or intense in one area so as to be ineffective in providing satisfactory relief.
It is an advantage of the present invention to provide a massager having a flexible contact surface which easily conforms to the shape of the users body.
It is another advantage of the present invention to provide a massager surface that is not only flexible but which also distributes and transmits the massaging impulses from the massager to a part of the body being contacted by the massager.
It is further an advantage of the present invention to provide a massager that may be used in the form of a portable handheld massager or a foot massager.
It is still another advantage of the present invention to provide a massager having a gel covering to conform to the user""s body while at the same time transmitting the massaging impulses from the massage actuator.
It is further an advantage of the present invention to provide a gel pad massaging unit which may be used as a wrist rest for either a computer keyboard or typewriter or computer mouse.
In accordance with one form of the present invention the massager has an improved interface having a housing which has a massager head attached to a handle that houses a massage actuator. The massaging head is connected to the handle which receives the massaging impulses from the massage actuator. In one embodiment of the present invention, the massaging head may be mounted pivotally to the handle so that it may be moved in various directions to accommodate the user. The massaging head has a massaging surface which may be partially covered by a gel covering. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention the portion that is not covered by the gel covering may be made of a rigid rubber or plastic material so that the user may focus the massaging impulses from the massage actuator to a specific area of the body. In another embodiment of the present invention the gel cover may completely cover the massaging head so that the user may have a comfortable surface with which to use the massager.
The gel covering may be made of a soft fabric to encase the gel which is enclosed therein. The gel is preferably of a consistency that is soft and pliable yet allows the massaging impulses of the massage actuator to be evenly distributed about the massaging surface of the gel covering.
The present invention also envisions using the gel covering on a foot massager. The foot massager may include a housing which houses the massage actuator and the foot massager may have at least one gel pad on the upper surface for the user""s feet to contact. The foot massager may have depressions in the upper surface to indicate where the user may place his/her feet and the gel pads may be positioned within these depressions so that the massaging impulse from the massage actuator may be evenly distributed on the user""s feet. In one embodiment of the present invention, the foot massager may have portions in the depressions where there are percussion nodes which create a tapping sensation on the bottoms or sides of the users feet. These percussion nodes may be made of a rigid rubber or plastic material and are preferably not covered by the gel pad.
The present invention may also be used in such items as a computer keyboard wrist rest and a mouse pad rest. The wrist rests may include a gel padding on the top of a wrist rest that is to be placed adjacent to the computer keyboard. A massage actuator may be housed within the wrist rest under a top gel covering to provide a soothing massaging impulse to the user. It is also envisioned that a mouse pad may be integrated with a wrist rest so that a user may comfortably use the wrist rests with a mouse pad.